Garcia also said that he was not surprised by President Barack Obama’s handshake with Raul Castro earlier this month “because my impression of Obama is not very good ... He is a leftist.”

García, who spent 17 of his 49 years in prison, and his wife, Yris Tamara Perez Aguilera will return Tuesday to their hometown of Placetas in central Cuba. They are considered to be among the most active government critics on the island.
Both received medical treatment while in the United States, he said.